| This was my first race in about 32 years. Back in Jr. High
and Early High School I had been on the track team and been
forced to run a bit (I was a shot putter). I had intended to run
a race in the late spring or sometime during the summer. Spring
just did not work out and early in the summer I injured myself
during a karate tournament. I decided to work with a personal
trainer and run a race in the spring of 2006, but then I
received an email newsletter from my dentist that included the
information on the Pumpkin Push 5k. It turns out that she is a
founding sponsor of the race. So I decided to go for it. (I highly recommend her. She is fairly expensive, but well worth
the money. If you are interested, visit her
web site.)
When I first decided to run a 5K, I set myself a goal of doing
it in under 30 minutes. As I trained for it, that goal looked
very achievable and I set myself a second goal of 27 minutes.
This was a "I would like to" goal. The main goal was still under
30. I also so set myself a "super secret I da man goal" of 25
minutes.
We (Vicki went with me to walk to the 2.5K course) arrived
about an hour before the race. After picking up my race
materials, I looked around for people I knew. I found a coworker
and a member of the staff from the dentist office. About 15
minutes before the start of the race I located Vicki again and
ditched my warm up jacket. I had intended to run in shorts and
short sleeved shirt, but it was darned chilly out. I kept my
warm up pants on and put on the long sleeved shirt they had
given me. I started warming up and I took this opportunity to
locate the starting line.
As 10:00 am approached there was a mass of people at the start
line. (Looking at the final race results it looks like there were
a total of 855 runners.) They lined us up by pace, to keep the
slow pokes from holding up the fast runners. I was back a bit
from the starting line in the 9 to 10 minute milers. From that
point we could hear that the race coordinators were giving
instructions, but no one in the area I was in could understand a
word.
Finally we could tell they were about to start the race. The
siren sounded, people started moving and we were off... sort
of... with the mass of people it took 5 to 10 maybe even 15
seconds just to get to the starting line and even then it was
hard to get a good pace going due to all of the people.
It finally cleared out and I was off and running. And I ran. And
I ran. And then I came up on it. They had painted a mileage
marker on the course. It was... HALF A MILE... I saw that I
thought to myself... "Only half a mile.. this is going to be a
long race!"
The course runs around Seward Park on Lake Washington, to make
it a 5k they use a service road loop. (see the map below, the
orange line is the 5K route)
It involves a hill, a long, steep hill. I
started up this very VERY steep hill at a moderate run. About a
third of the way up I gave up and started to walk. As
I trudge up the hill I was passed by this little old lady, I am
guessing at least 70 grunting and screaming her way up the hill
. A real spirit
crusher.
I walked, panting and huffing, until I saw where it was
leveling out and started to run again. It leveled out and I was
doing ok and then it started up again. Not as steep or long but
still disheartening. I kept running and finally turned the
corner and started back down. I was about three quarters of the
way down when I got a stitch in my right side and I finally had
to walk a bit, not long may 30 seconds and then I was running
again.
I got down the hill and was chugging along. No where near the
pace I had previously, but still moving. Finally I came up on
the 3 mile marker. Knowing I only had a tenth of a mile left I
started running harder and faster. I was just about there when I
came up on people who had already finished cheering on us slow
pokes. "Only about 100 yards left" one of them shouted and I
could see the finish line and the big timing clock. the number
on it shocked me, after all the walking I had done ... So I
started to sprint. As I watched the seconds tick off I pushed as
hard as I could and crossed the finish line.
My goals had been 30 to be satisfied, 27 to be happy, and 25
would have caused me to strut a bit. As I had walked .. trudged
... up the hill I had come to terms with being happy with a 30
minute run.
My time: 26:30.3! Given how long it took to even get to the
starting line and the slow downs, with with the walking bits, I
am pretty darned happy with that time.
I had been thinking of trying to go to Karate afterwards and I
was actually feeling pretty good, but first I had to wait for
Vicki to finish the 2.5k walk and then I chatted a bit with
folks from the dentists office. We finally left.
About 2 hours after the race, I began to feel it in my thighs.
Shortly after that in my lower ribcage area.
I a soooo glad I did not go to Karate...
According to the official race results I finished 132nd out
of 287 in the overall men's division, 28th of out 54 in the
men's 40 to 49 group.
I found it a bit odd that there were twice as many female
runners as male runners - 568...
Out of the 855 total I finished 235th.
I also note that my dentist finished in 21:30, last year it
appears she did over 35. I will have to ask her about this.
Performance enhancing drugs perhaps? hmmmm....
What did I learn?
- Know the course. Part of the problem with the hill was
not know how long it was and just how steep it was prior to
reaching it.
- I really need to work on pacing. First half of the
race I must have been cruising because the second half of
the race I was barely moving.
Oh... and I did beat the little old lady who
passed me on the hill.
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